The use of cemetery grave markers, tombstones and similar cemetery memorials to adorn and mark gravesites is well known. These cemetery memorials can include elaborate crypts, sculptures and other similar adornments. More recently, these cemetery memorials have become substantial more subtle and tasteful, often comprising a simple slab of marble having an inscription, placed horizontally on a grave site.
Information displayed on gravestones has remained static and minimal for centuries. Name, birth date, date of death are the limited legacy most people leave behind for their time on earth. Recently, people have begun personalizing their gravestones with near photographic quality images of their homes, cars, portraits, etc. etched directly into the granite gravestone. Small plaques with swinging covers revealing photographs of the deceased have also begun to appear. In the age of a highly fragmented, diverse, and overly-mobile population, this attention to highly individualized grave markers can be attributed to a desire to enhance one's sense of immortality in the context that they are likely not being buried in the traditional small town family cemetery plot where everyone knew them.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and from the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of the invention.